Question: Find the matrix $\mathbf{M}$ that doubles the first column of a matrix.  In other words,
\[\mathbf{M} \begin{pmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} 2a & b \\ 2c & d \end{pmatrix}.\]If no such matrix $\mathbf{M}$ exists, then enter the zero matrix.
Solution: Let $\mathbf{M} = \begin{pmatrix} p & q \\ r & s \end{pmatrix}.$  Then
\[\mathbf{M} \begin{pmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} p & q \\ r & s \end{pmatrix} \begin{pmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} pa + qc & pb + qd \\ ra + sc & rb + sd \end{pmatrix}.\]We want this to be equal to $\begin{pmatrix} 2a & b \\ 2c & d \end{pmatrix}.$  There are no constants $p,$ $q,$ $r,$ $s$ that will make this work, so the answer is the zero matrix $\boxed{\begin{pmatrix} 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix}}.$